Next week, the Massachusetts Senate will debate the FY2026 state budget. Among the 1058 amendments filed to the Senate Ways and Means proposal last week were several proposals that would roll back, weaken, or delay Chapter 3A – the MBTA Communities Act.
Massachusetts needs 222,000 homes by 2035 to stabilize our rental and homeownership markets. The MBTA Communities Act, passed by the Legislature in 2020 and signed into law in 2021, directs 177 cities and towns to establish multi-family zoning districts in their municipalities. To date, 131 of these communities have submitted compliance proposals to EOHLC, with many more on track to do so.
The MBTA Communities Act is a success. The multi-family zoning districts established through this law will make it possible to create many of the homes we need for Massachusetts to thrive.
The proposals to undermine this success are misguided and will only serve to set the Commonwealth back in its efforts to address our housing needs. In many cases, these are not new amendments – similar, if not identical, proposals have been made and overwhelmingly rejected during the process of developing the Affordable Homes Act, the FY2025 budget, and in the House during its FY2026 budget debate last month.
CHAPA urges the Senate to reject these amendments. If you are able, please contact your state senator and aske them to oppose these proposals:
#12 – Places New Requirements on Cities and Towns to Report on MBTA Communities Act Impact to EOHLC. This reporting would require an analysis of the impacts of housing construction on local infrastructure and schools – information that is not readily available and would be difficult to produce. If passed, this amendment would place a significant strain on scarce municipal resources without a clear benefit.
#13, #140, & #147 – Adds Unnecessary Appeal Criteria to MBTA Communities Act based on factors that are outside the scope of the law, including the availability of water, sewer, and wastewater treatment. The MBTA Communities Act does not require cities and towns to provide these sorts of infrastructure. If passed, these amendments would only delay and complicate the implementation of the law without providing a benefit to municipalities.
#141 & #296 – Narrows Definition of “MBTA Community” to exempt all communities without a rail, subway, or ferry station within its municipality from compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. If passed, it would significantly limit the number of new homes that could be permitted through the law and ignore the good-faith efforts made by nearly four dozen adjacent communities and small towns to comply with the MBTA Communities Act.
#274 & #834 – Limits the Use of Grant Funding to Encourage Compliance with MBTA Communities Act by allowing communities that choose not to do their part to address the Commonwealth’s housing challenges to avoid consequences established by the law, ignoring the good-faith efforts made by 131 communities in choosing to comply.
#297 – Delays Implementation of the MBTA Communities Act by changing the deadlines for municipal compliance. Massachusetts has faced significant housing challenges for years and cannot afford to wait any longer to address them. Given the acuity of our housing challenges, the 131 communities that have met their compliance deadlines and adopted compliant zoning, the extensive engagement and technical assistance provided to cities and towns, and the length of time needed to create the homes we need, this amendment is not only unnecessary but is harmful.
#298 – Exempts Municipalities from Compliance with MBTA Communities Law without Meeting Requirements based on factors outside of the scope of the law, including compliance with 40B and the granting of water withdrawal permits. The law is not about what is on the land now – it is about what will be allowed to be built in the future. To produce homes that people, our communities, and the Commonwealth need, local zoning needs to allow for it.
#839 – Creates A Single-Municipality Exception from MBTA Communities Law Classifications by altering the MBTA Communities Law for the benefit of one community. In creating this carve-out, the amendment goes against the broad stakeholder engagement and public comment process that informed the Law’s implementation and would be unfair to the 176 other communities subject to the Law.